At 01:58 PM 1/25/96 -0800, Bill Frantz wrote:

The big problem is how are the labels attached to the programs. I agree with Tim that it is probably imposible for individual Usenet postings. However is should be possible for TV programs, and whole newsgroups.

Since TV programs will soon *be* "individual Usenet postings," it will not be possible to rate them. Even the Earth doesn't have that much time. The economic "drag" involved would be too great. Once we have high-speed connections to the nets, the amount of video out there will explode. There will be more to watch than watchers (remember video archives). Search engines will help people find what they want and avoid what they don't want. "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll" (Wine, Women, and Song) will be like any other available subject -- some will want to find it and some will want to avoid it. Just another problem of how to extract the content you want from all the mess. Search engines won't be all that perfect but they will be all we have. One wonders why people spend so much time arguing about the V-chip, telecoms dereg, sex on the net, Trade Policy, or Immigration when it's intuitively obvious that these things are (or soon will be) no longer subject to central control of any kind. DCF "King Canute, we are here!"